


falling for you

by khattikeri



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hope's Peak Academy (Dangan Ronpa), First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 15:26:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17368490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khattikeri/pseuds/khattikeri
Summary: In which Saihara confesses to Ouma in the middle of the play they're performing.





	falling for you

**Author's Note:**

> because this fandom _needs_ fluff, holy shit. yall angst way too hard...
> 
> changed tags to mark this as a complete oneshot since I probably won't be writing small drabbles/multiple unconnected chapters anytime soon ;;

The final scene of the play was ready. The audience was restless-- understandable, since they'd been scheduled to end soon. Saihara and Ouma stood on the rooftop set, fake moonlight illuminating their faces-- or rather, Saihara’s face, since Ouma was wearing his character's phantom thief mask.

“I guess this is the end of our little tryst, Mr. Detective,” Ouma said. The line was meant to be sly, but came out a bit sadder. Ouma himself seemed to notice the slip-up and winced under his mask; Saihara’s perceptive eyes couldn’t miss it.

Saihara couldn't help but marvel at his determination to not ruin the rest of the class's efforts for once. _Maybe in a different universe, he’d be the Ultimate Actor. He’s definitely good at this, to say the least._

Ouma pulled himself together, delivering his lines as mysteriously yet sincerely as he could. “This was fun while it lasted, y'know? These heists wouldn’t have been as interesting without you-- though I do regret not being able to steal your life or your heart.”

All Saihara had to do was follow the script. To smile wryly and say, _“Even though you may be a thief, it’ll take you a lot more time before you can steal my heart.”_

But after all the time they'd spent after school practicing together, after all those hours of hanging out and having personal conversations that accidentally delved far deeper than either of them realized, after Saihara had eventually, _finally_ come to terms with his secret feelings-- it didn't feel right to go along with Shirogane's script. He didn't want to hide reality from the rest of his classmates. He didn't want to avoid the truth, even if they were just acting in a play. 

Lying was Ouma’s thing, after all.

Saihara reached out and carefully, gingerly took Ouma’s mask off his face. He ignored Ouma’s stunned wide eyes and gaping mouth, ignored the frantic gestures of Momota and the stage crew, and _especially_ ignored Shirogane’s glasses glint of death behind the curtains. 

“What’s there to regret?” Saihara teased, and _god, everyone was gonna kill him later, but this’d be **so** damn worth it._ “My phantom thief… Ouma Kokichi-kun. You already _have_ stolen my heart.”

Cupping Ouma’s face with one hand, he leaned in for the kiss.

All Saihara had wanted to do was confess, so the last thing he expected was for Ouma to actually grab onto his shoulders, take his hat off, cup his face, and kiss back.

...His lips were softer and more pliant than Saihara had ever expected.

The audience screamed in awe and delight-- some of them were even _clapping now, shit--_ and after several more seconds, the two of them broke apart, flushed and flustered and smiling despite themselves.

Saihara’s confession was real. The blush on Ouma’s face was real. This whole thing was real, and if Saihara weren’t on a confidence high right now he’d explode on the spot.

And yet, as much as he wanted to just grab Ouma and kiss him again, audience be damned... _Back to the script, I suppose. We have a lot to talk about backstage when this is over..._

“Shall we go, then?’ Saihara asked, offering his hand to Ouma.

Ouma nodded, still grinning as he accepted Saihara’s hand. “To our next adventure.”

As the curtain fell, the audience went wild with applause.

***

Somehow, they'd managed to escape the others and talk privately.

“I can't believe you weren’t lying,” Ouma said quietly, averting his blank gaze. “There’s a difference between you when you’re lying versus you when you’re confident, and back there, you were the latter.”

Saihara’s face burned. _He can totally read me, huh…_

Ouma flashed a classic grin, reverting to his normal prankster state. “I’m impressed, Saihara-chan! You really swept me off my feet for once. Can't say I've ever fallen for acting like that before, but--”

“It was real,” Saihara blurted. Ouma stopped, blinking at him owlishly, and Saihara's tongue tied itself up. “Just! Just-- letting you know. Even if I was confident, those were my honest feelings. Genuinely. A hundred percent.”

Ouma snickered. “Hm~ Saihara-chan’s getting pretty defensive, huh--”

“From the bottom of my heart, I really, _really_ love you, Ouma-kun.”

Ouma froze. For a moment Saihara wondered if he majorly fucked up... but when he saw a hint of red creeping up onto the shorter boy’s cheeks, he let out a sigh of relief.

“You… _you…!”_ Ouma’s voice cracked. He quickly pulled his scarf up to cover his lower face. “Someone should restrict you to one refreshingly honest line per day from now on. You’ll give me a heart attack if you keep spouting romantic dating sim lines like that, Saihara-chan...”

Saihara smiled, taking Ouma's hand into his own. "Yeah," he whispered. "I'll do my best."

**Author's Note:**

> I'M NOT DONE WITH V3 CHAPTERS 5 AND 6 YET,,, so please don't spoil in the comments! i have a few personal theories but i REALLY want to avoid spoilers.
> 
> (edit: as of 1/19/2019 i've finished V3, so i'm fine with spoilers now!)
> 
> come yell at me about danganronpa and oumasai on [my tumblr](http://khattikeri.tumblr.com/)


End file.
